Conveyor dryers are widely used to dry and condition various materials and products. Typically, these conveyor dryers include a drying or conditioning chamber having a moving conveyor disposed therein. A system is incorporated into the conveyor dryer for generating conditioned or heated air that is forced through the conveyor and the material supported on the conveyor. Thus as the conveyor moves through the conditioning chamber, air moving through the conveyor and the material thereon functions to selectively dry or condition the material.
In order to drive the conveyor, a link type drive chain is secured to each side of the conveyor and driven by an electric motor. Thus as the conveyor moves through the drying chamber, the side chains typically ride on a support rail. Further, in order to seal the sides of the chamber, the conveyor carries a traveling guide that extends upwardly and moves against a stationary seal. Thus, the traveling guide and the stationary seal are designed to form a generally air tight seal and to retain product about the conveyor.
There are many drawbacks and disadvantages to conventional conveyor system designs used in conveyor dryers. For example, the structure utilized to form the seal adjacent each side of the conveyor makes wear and tear a concern. The fact that such conventional designs require a traveling guide to continuously move against a fixed seal obviously indicates that there will be a limited life to these frictionally engaging components and in the end that can result in frequent shut downs for the conveyor dryer.